Weathering the Changes

I'm old enough to remember when the seasons felt "real".

The first winter snows arrived in late November or early December and there was almost always snow on the ground during the Christmas holidays.  By mid-winter, the snow in our yard was often deep enough so that I could step up onto the first branch of a fully grown maple tree.  Snowdrifts along our street came up to my father's chest.  Sometimes there was a brief thaw in late January or early February, but for the most part the temperatures were consistently cold until the beginning of March.

Summer was warm and friendly.  One could spend hours outside without care.  I remember many an adventurous afternoon of biking around the neighbourhood with friends, bird-watching, or wading in the lake.  Evenings were spent chasing fireflies, although the mosquitoes would eventually chase everyone indoors.

Today it's quite different.

Now, winter is hardly winter at all.  The gray of November seems to drag on ever longer, and we're lucky to have snow on Christmas.  Rainy days in January are becoming common.  Temperatures fluctuate so quickly that we can have snow one day, rain the next, and then icy cold that freezes sidewalks and makes traveling anywhere a risky exercise.

The transition from spring to summer seems to happen overnight as we're socked with above-average temperatures beginning in June.  Heat waves are occurring more frequently, to the extent where many people can't even venture outdoors for more than a few minutes unless they're slathered from head to toe in sun-blocking creams.  In July it can be hotter in Canada than it is in Florida.  Nights are no longer quiet because everyone has their air conditioners running.  The fireflies have all but vanished, as have many birds that once graced our yard.

So many people cry out "Climate change is a hoax!"  However it's clear that something is happening.  The seasons that we knew as children no longer exist.  Weather patterns are becoming less predictable.  The wildlife that we enjoyed is disappearing.

Too many governments seem hell-bent on destroying precious resources in the name of progress, and at the same time denying that what they do has an effect on the climate.  As I write this, the rain forests of Brazil are burning because the country's president authorized it for development.  The United States government has removed environmental protections on national parks for fossil fuel exploitation.  Meanwhile several Caribbean islands have been flattened by hurricanes in recent years: storms made more powerful by rising sea temperatures.  Island countries in the Pacific are slowly being eroded by higher than normal tides.

This is why young people are angry.  This is why people are marching in the streets and demanding that governments live up to their climate promises.  The longer we wait, the less of the earth we know will survive long term.

It's so sad that many people don't seem to care.  "We'll adapt," they say.  Yes, we can adapt.  Humans are the most adaptable species on the planet; that's how we became so successful.  But it'll cost much more in money, effort, and lives to do so later rather than take preventative measures now.  And we won't have anywhere near the ecological diversity.  That would be a tragedy.

The Climate of Hatred

By this time everyone knows of a young woman from Sweden named Greta Thunberg who has taken numerous world leaders and politicians to task for not acting on their climate promises.  She and those who have acted before her - Severn Cullis-Suzuki and Xiye Bastida-Patrick among others - have unfortunately received backlash and hatred for their activism.

Too young to know better. Should be in school. Manipulated by those around them. Mentally unstable. Being used as a pawn. Indoctrinated under false pretenses.

It's sickening to me that so many grown adults see fit to attack children because of their own misguided bias or that they feel so threatened.

In one thread under the #HowDareYou Twitter hashtag, one particular tweet caught my attention.  Someone was asking "Where is the evidence?" when presented with statements about climate change.  I responded by linking to over half a dozen articles, including stories about how Pacific islands are disappearing, coral reefs are dying, and warmer oceans are fueling more powerful storms.

One response was a tweet that featured a large yellow banner with the word FAKE in the centre.  Others spewed vitriol about how climate change was all a hoax, lies, and alarmist.

A man whom I've known since high school, from an affluent community and well-educated, has recently decided to enter politics, running as a candidate for the People's Party of Canada.  One of his reasons was because he hates "climate alarmism".  When I asked him to clarify and tell me if he believed in climate change or not, he refused to answer.

Not answering is still an answer.  With regret I had to unfollow him.

If people were to use the energy they put into their hatred for more constructive purposes, the world would certainly be a better place than it is now.  Thanks to certain politicians and prominent people, however, hate has been normalized and it will continue to do damage for a long time to come.

J.R.R. Tolkien wrote, "If more of us valued food and cheer and song above hoarded gold, it would be a merrier world."

The same could be said about caring.  More people need to care about the world and educate themselves instead of hating what they don't or won't understand.

The Underlying Cause

There has been yet another shooting in the United States that has left several people dead. Once again everyone is debating on how to deal with the aftermath and what to do in order to prevent a recurrence.  More than likely, nothing will change.

I've been asking myself the question: what is the real cause of these events? Most believe that it's a combination of several things.  The high availability of guns, lax regulations for possessing guns, not enough checks and balances that would prevent unsuitable people from owning them.

What if the reason goes deeper than that?  Some people have placed the blame on mental illness.  While it's true that a number of those who perpetrated mass shootings were mentally ill, not all were.  Violence in media and video games has been blamed as well.  While the media can negatively influence those who have some form of mental condition, it's not the sole factor.

One mass shooter posted on social media that he felt left out because he couldn't get a girlfriend.  Another wrote that he believed that white people were being destroyed by the influx of non-white immigrants.  The suspect in the 2017 Las Vegas concert shooting had financial difficulties.  The most recent perpetrator had been fired from his job only hours before his rampage.

The common denominator here seems to be anger and hatred.  Anger toward a world that doesn't fulfill their needs or conform to their perceptions of what it should be.  Hatred toward certain people in the world and casting blame for their own failures upon them.  Not to mention the inability or unwillingness to adjust themselves to a world that is constantly changing.

Sadly, the only way they could deal with their emotions was to kill.

The anger is growing.  From political leaders who rile up their supporters with Mark Antony style rhetoric, to common people who believe that their ideals are being threatened by change.  If not dealt with soon, there will be an inevitable explosion that will threaten to tear us all apart.